


simmer down and pucker up

by candycolamorgan



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Bloodplay, F/M, PWP, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 01:04:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1368226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candycolamorgan/pseuds/candycolamorgan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it comes to disagreements, there's really only one solution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	simmer down and pucker up

In all her years, Caroline would never understand why trouble always started in bars. It wasn’t difficult to see why humans were susceptible to the lure and influence of alcohol, but it never ceased to amaze her how easily the supernatural were to it as well. It might take a few more bottles, but the end result was still the same.

It was this train of thought that her mind wearily wandered to when the dark-haired vampire who had been eyeing her all night started to walk in her direction. She’d tried to ignore the creepy way he seemed to be undressing her with his eyes ever since she’d walked in with her friends earlier, but the way her skin itched with annoyance was hard to push aside when she wasn’t used to people who dared to look at her like that.

“Is there something I can help you with?” she asked curtly when he stopped a few feet away from her seat at the bar, interrupting an amusing story her friend Katia had been in the middle of telling. Everyone’s attention turned towards the interloper, surprised at his gall for approaching their queen so directly.

“Actually, yeah,” he said with an overconfident smirk that Caroline wanted to immediately wipe off his annoyingly, perfectly symmetrical face. “It looks like I’ve lost my keys and was hoping I could trouble you for a ride.”

Caroline heard several chair legs scrape against the floor as a few of Klaus’ hybrids stood abruptly at the stranger’s thinly veiled attempt at wrangling what she imagined to be a far different kind of ‘ride’ than he claimed. Despite the insulting innuendo, she held her hand up for them to stay put, noticing the slight slur of the man’s words. It wasn’t like getting drunk was a crime. They threw her a hesitant glance, but eventually stilled and sat back down slowly, the silent command that spoke volumes of her inherent power apparently lost on this drunken visitor’s senses— as was the feral hint of teeth in the grin Caroline flashed at him.

“You know, that _does_ sound like a bit of trouble for me, seeing as how I don’t even know you.” Her tone adopted that of an impressionable, simpering girl as she continued to mock him. “I mean, you could be a really bad guy for all I know.” The small crowd of people around her all laughed, finding the idea of Caroline not being able to handle some wanderer like him as amusing as it was absurd. Seemingly unfazed by the jeering laughter being thrown his way, he continued to address her.

“Well, I don’t know you either, but I’m willing to take a chance on a sweet looking girl like you and trust those baby blues.”

She narrowed those very eyes at him as she took a sip of her neglected drink, concentrating hard on controlling her grip so as not to crush the glass. It had been such a long time since someone had so blatantly underestimated her based on her looks that she’d almost forgotten what it felt like. She wasn’t as young as she looked anymore, and where she would have once tried to diffuse the current situation with a sarcastic yet gentle letdown now burned the dark hope that he would do something to justify her reaching out and ripping that impudent tongue straight out of his mouth.

“Then trust me when I say that is an extremely unwise decision,” she said coldly instead of pulverizing him into the ground like she wanted to. Before she could fully twist in her seat and gesture for a refill, he took half a step closer to her.

“ _Listen_ ,” he began in a much less friendly tone, and Caroline snapped her head around incredulously at the impatient edge in his voice. There was exactly _one_ person on the entire planet that could tell her what to do. And that was only on _very_ special occasions.

“I’m in town visiting an old friend of mine— _Marcel_. Maybe you’ve heard of him?” Her lips curled back into a barely restrained snarl at the pathetic attempt to intimidate her with such a shameless name drop. He took her expression as confirmation and went on, every word digging him further and further into the grave Caroline was fantasizing of burying him in. “Because I don’t think he’d take too kindly to anyone who was anything less than perfectly… _accommodating_ towards me.”

Maybe it was due partly to the fact that he’d had a few too many drinks, and that he just really didn’t know who she was, but she was absolutely certain that he must be _all_ idiot to not recognize the dangerous glint in her eye.

“A friend of Marcel’s, huh?” she said slowly. “Well that does change things, then.” His smile was already halfway to victorious before she finished. “Out of courtesy to Marcel, I suppose I _could_ let you get a head start on your walk home now before sunrise, instead of having you sent away later with your heart stuffed in a doggie bag.”

He laughed, mistaking her very real threat as some joke.

“What, you got some jealous boyfriend I should be worried about or something?”

Caroline smiled to herself. _You have no fucking idea_ , she thought with perverse relish.

“Or something,” she replied vaguely, internally laughing at the term ‘jealous boyfriend.’ It wasn’t nearly a descriptive enough title to be accurate, not to mention the fact that he should be far more concerned with what damage _she_ was capable of causing him right this second rather than some currently absent boyfriend.

Effectively done with the whole situation, she turned her back on him dismissively as she motioned for a fresh drink.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” he muttered into her ear, and when she felt his hand run up the back of her arm, didn’t stop the hybrids when they jumped aggressively to her defense—

Since she was too busy slamming the moron’s head back onto the bar herself.

There was a loud sickening crunch of glass breaking under the base of his neck when she pushed him further down, and the entire bar seemed to stop in their tracks at the scent of fresh blood. Even the band paused mid-song to crane their necks to see what was going on. Caroline ignored his pained outcry and dug her fingernails deeper into the vulnerable flesh of his throat, warm blood staining her fingers.

“I don’t know if you’re really just as dumb as you look,” she snarled viciously, “or if our dear friend Marcel just hasn’t informed you of the way things work around here these days, but I guess it looks like I’ll have to save him the trouble…”

She grabbed the neck of a nearby bottle and broke it on the edge of the counter, the splatter of red liquid an ominous prelude to something other than wine being spilt that night. Pressing the jagged broken edge up against his abdomen hard enough to pierce the fabric of his shirt as well as the skin that lie beneath, she tightened her grip as he frantically reached up to attempt to pull himself out of her grasp. Caroline could tell from the force of his strength that he had at least sixty years on her, but the feel of his carotid pulsing erratically beneath her palm imbued her with a rush of intoxicating adrenaline, and she managed to keep him pinned to the bar despite his efforts.

“This is _our_ town now,” she whispered dangerously, knowing that despite the low volume of her voice, everyone in the room would be able to hear the impact of her words. “And if you _ever_ even think about touching me again, I will rip out your organs one by one and stuff them down your throat before leaving your ashes out for the street sweepers. Understand?” He nodded, his mouth too full of blood to answer, and Caroline smiled cruelly before plunging the broken glass further into his stomach. He let out a muted cry at the excruciating pain and she released her hold on him, letting him slide to the floor in a bloody heap.

She held her hand out expectantly and one of the bartenders immediately rushed to pass her a clean rag. After wiping the blood off her hands with the disconcertingly casual manner of someone who was far too used to such violence, she reached into her purse and threw a few bills onto the counter.

“Sorry about the mess, Cami,” she said over her shoulder to the blonde barkeep, and the other woman just smirked and nodded her head knowingly.

Turning back to the man on the floor, Caroline crouched down to meet him at eye level.

“My name’s Caroline, by the way,” she said in a falsely sweet voice that reeked of implied threats, and a flicker of fear passed over his face. Her grin widened at the sight. “ _Welcome to New Orleans_.”

***

Realizing that she should have known better than to think he wouldn’t find out, Caroline dialed Klaus’ cell for the millionth time, letting out a few frustrated curses when she continued to be met with the endless ringing of the other end.

“ _Klaus_ ,” she growled into the receiver, “you better pick up the phone _right now_ before I cut off your—”

As if he’d somehow heard her and deduced the direction of her thoughts, he finally answered.

“Hi sweetheart,” he greeted cheerfully in that familiar sexy accent. “Would you mind terribly if I called you back? I’m a little busy at the moment with—”

“Don’t you dare hang up on me!” she yelled angrily, and a moment later heard him sigh from the other end. “Now,” she began, pausing to take a deep breath before demanding, “ _Where are you_?”

“Around,” he replied vaguely, and Caroline heard a muffled groan in the background, followed by something that sounded like a swift kick.

“Klaus, tell me you’re not where I think you are, doing what I think you’re doing.” He let out a loud laugh that only just barely covered the sound of breaking glass somewhere near him, and she had the sudden violent urge to drag him back home. With her teeth.

“Whatever you’re planning to do, just drop it alright?” she said in the most reasonable tone she could muster past her gritted teeth. “I already took care of it.” There was a beat of silence before he finally replied.

“Listen love, it might be awhile yet before I finish up here, so no need to wait up, okay? I’ll be back late.”

He disconnected before she could utter the slightest protest, leaving her to fume by herself.

***

Klaus knew she was waiting up for him inside when he caught a hint of vanilla in the air as he walked towards the front door. That and the faint flicker of the fireplace through the sheer curtains were the only clues to her presence, the house eerily silent as he concentrated hard for any sound of her breathing or movements. He swallowed almost nervously when he couldn’t hear anything.

Damn. She really _was_ furious.

The wooden steps creaked loudly as he made his way up the porch at a slow pace, every step another clear warning that he was approaching. Pausing only momentarily at the door to take a deep, fortifying breath, he stepped through the threshold, wondering what confrontation lay ahead.

His gaze was immediately drawn to her figure sitting in a chair before the fire, unmoving as a marble statue. He struggled to find the right words to say, but he needn’t have worried since she spoke first.

“I told you not to do it,” she said evenly, her outwardly calm demeanor speaking more to her fury than any type of outburst ever could. He shut the door behind him carefully, and she finally looked up, taking in the sight of his appearance.

His entire face was splattered with blood, the white shirt he wore now resembling some morbid Jackson Pollack piece. His black coat glistened wetly in the dim light, and she knew it was drenched in the blood that also dripped from his hands. The heady smell of all the blood and carnage rolled off him in waves, and her temper— as well as something else— simmered hotly beneath her skin.

“And I made it clear I was going to anyways,” he replied harshly, his voice rough and defiant. She stood up abruptly at his tone, glaring at him. He was distracted for a moment when he noticed that she was dressed in all white, resembling some kind of avenging angel with her rigid stance and expression. One filled with a pure righteous anger that could blind a creature of the night like him with its light.

“You’re threatening everything we’ve been building here,” she said as her hands fisted angrily at her sides. “And over something so _pathetic_!” Klaus was too focused on her use of ‘we’ to respond immediately, and so she continued, uninterrupted. “…It’s not just reckless, but idiotic! You’re throwing away all the good will and loyalty of this city. How long do you honestly think you can go around and do things like this?” she demanded furiously.

His eyes flashed dangerously as he moved to stand in front of her, the adrenaline of his recent hunt rising up in him again at her berating.

“ _How_ _long_?” he asked incredulously, wondering at how she could even doubt his capacity of violence when it came to matters such as this. “However long it takes to make my point, _sweetheart_.” She continued to glare up at him, seemingly unaffected by his proximity, and a dark impulse to _make_ her affected ran through him with a chilling intensity.

“And what point is that?” she spat at him. “That you’re an unrepentant bastard?”

He grinned. So she _did_ understand.

Taking his satisfied smile as affirmation, she let out a disdainful scoff and threw up her hands in frustration.

“He was a friend of Marcel’s,” she scolded. “And he was drunk. I said I _handled_ it.” A fresh wave of rage at the thought of Caroline being subjected to such impudence from _anyone_ pushed his already black mood to levels from earlier, when he had stalked through the streets like a demon possessed, intent on only bloodshed. The fact that she had to ‘handle’ anything in the first place made his next words come out more viciously than he’d intended.

“If you think some worthless vagrant can pass through _my_ city, lay his hands on what’s _mine,_ and walk off with his spine intact…” he trailed off ominously, and Caroline fought hard against the reflex to suck in a startled breath at the brutal promise. Not to mention the way he’d called her _his_. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to make myself clearer,” he finished.

“About what?” she asked uneasily, terrified and yet strangely eager to hear his answer. He stepped closer to her, and she could practically feel his chest rising and falling with his deep breaths.    

“What I meant when I said I intend to be _your last_.”

She couldn’t hold back a sharp intake of breath as Klaus reached out and grabbed her arms, hauling her flush against him. The blood on his hands seeped through the thin material of her cardigan, and when it touched her skin, it was as if the entire length of her arm had been set on fire. The thirst that— for the most part— lingered quietly within every fiber of her being suddenly leapt to the forefront of her mind, burning a painful trail down her throat and into the center of her chest. 

“I’m not one of your adolescent boyfriends,” he snarled as his fingers tightened their hold on her. “I’m not going to stand by idly and ignore when some other man puts his hands on you.”

Caroline wasn’t sure whether it was the blood or his infuriatingly possessive attitude that had her stomach twisted up in knots, but the stab of a deep and unrelenting hunger pushed her past the point of caring to distinguish the two.

Deciding to explore both possibilities, she slid her hands up his chest, leaning forward until her lips brushed the corner of his mouth and licked away a stray drop of blood.

“No, you’re not, are you?” she mused. Moving to the other side of his face, she dragged her tongue all along his cheekbone, wiping away the traces of his earlier actions. “So what _would_ the King the Quarter do, then?” she asked in a silky whisper, continuing to kiss her way down his jaw and neck as she licked up every drop.

Klaus stiffened in surprise at her sharp turn in mood, but became quickly distracted enough not to question it too much when she paused to suck on the pulse point at the base of his neck. He let out a low growl as his hands dropped to her waist, his fingers digging into the soft curves of her hips.

“I’d make them die screaming,” he answered threateningly, and Caroline felt a jolt of unmistakable arousal at the words. She knew it was wrong to feel anything remotely resembling pleasure at such dark promises, but on some level she couldn’t help but be turned on at the thought of Klaus mad with jealousy over her— excited at the possibility of driving him to unspeakable lengths for her sake.  

She fingered the buttons on his bloodied shirt and remembered it wasn’t even a matter of hypotheticals anymore, but _reality_. She was shocked at how the realization that there was actually a dead vampire out there didn’t do anything to tamp down the quickening rush of desire through her.

Only inflamed it further.

“Is that what happened tonight?” she asked, reaching up slowly to wrap her arms around his neck. Recognizing the slow burn of bloodlust in her eyes, and how it tread a fine line between _another_ kind of lust, Klaus smiled to himself as lurid images of where the night was headed filled his mind.

“More or less,” he replied noncommittally, purposefully vague as to play on her morbid curiosity. She clutched the short hair at the back of his neck tighter and spoke quietly against his cheek.

“ _Tell me,_ ” she demanded.

Seeing that her eyes had fluttered shut, he grinned freely, relishing the idea of getting her off on a graphic recounting of his night. He moistened his lips with his tongue just as Caroline’s eyes happened to flicker open, and he watched as her gaze zeroed in on the move, her breathing taking on a harsh, unsteady rhythm.

He heard the shattering of glass before he even fully registered the pain of his head crashing into a picture frame.

It took him a moment to realize that Caroline had pinned him to the wall with an unrelenting force, not even flinching when shards of glass flew all around them. She had a wild look in her eyes as her hands pushed his shoulders into the wall behind him, and he felt every muscle in his body tighten automatically in response.

Klaus thought about how all this time he had always taken scrupulous care to never push her, never take anything she wouldn’t freely give. But now, as she dared to use her strength against him, he resolved to forget any considerations he might have had that held him back before.

She wanted rough? He would show her the _meaning_ of it.

Reversing their positions in a blur of movement to even Caroline’s eyes, he bore down on her with an intimidating quickness. Grabbing her hip in one hand, he let the other tangle in the hair at her neck and push it back until he had unobstructed access to the side of her face.

“You really want to know what happened tonight?” he whispered menacingly into her ear, pressing her harder up against the wall. Klaus felt her hands scramble up his back, and he took the way she hooked them around his shoulders and tried to pull him closer as a _yes_. Her breathing was coming out in deep drags, and he moved his hand on her hip slowly over her navel.

“I found him cowering in a back room of some dilapidated bar on the outskirts of town,” he finally said, his voice deepening as he continued. “Not that any amount of distance would have made a difference when the stench of his fear was enough to lead me to him.”

As if to illustrate his point, he buried his face in her neck, taking a deep breath of her intoxicating scent. He let himself linger there, brushing his nose up the length of her neck as he savored the smell of her panic— the thrill of uncertainty mixing with her obvious desire. She let out a faint whimper at the way his lips brushed against the sensitive area below her ear, and she strained upwards, desperate for any harder contact between them. He held her back easily, keeping her at arm’s length as he enjoyed the sight of her frustrated need.

“It would have been all too easy if I’d ended it right there,” he went on to say, and it took a second for Caroline to realize he wasn’t talking about the mounting tension between them, but continuing with the story. “So I took a knife and slit him right open.”

The terrifying image Klaus’ quiet words painted was only made more so when he crooked his finger and dragged it slowly up her torso, mimicking the trail he’d taken a blade to earlier on someone else. It resulted in a grisly crimson trail up her dress with the blood of the very victim he was referring to, marring the pristine white fabric even more than he already had.

He stopped his hand at the base of her throat and she held her breath, too preoccupied with wondering what his next move would be to even consider the fact that she could easily break away now that he wasn’t gripping her waist in place. Not that she even wanted to, exhaling on a soft moan when he stroked the side of her neck gently with the back of his finger as if he were petting a kitten.

“I left his throat alone, though,” he commented lightly, his voice taking on a suspiciously reasonable tone. She hummed in approval at the tenderness of his touch, lulled momentarily into a false sense of security.

“Why?” she asked distractedly after a few moments of silence, not concerned with the answer as much as she just wanted to hear his seductive voice. He tilted his head a little as he looked at her speculatively, as if he was trying to gauge whether or not to tell her. He must have decided to, because he placed both hands on either side of her head, caging her in as he leaned in close.

“Well, dragging him throughout the entire Quarter wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying if I couldn’t hear his screams, now would it?”

Caroline’s eyes flew open at his shocking answer, immediately scanning his face to see if he was joking.

She swallowed thickly when she realized he wasn’t.

She had the overwhelming urge to hit him then— to scream and yell at him until she went hoarse from giving him more than a little piece of her mind. It was one thing to dispose of someone in the privacy of some shithole bar away from the city, but a gruesome public exhibition? _Jesus fucking Christ_.

Sagging against the wall, she dragged a hand over her face in frustration. The PR nightmare alone was enough to make her more than incensed, but it was the prospect of having to somehow explain things to a certain someone that really left a bad taste in her mouth.

“You realize we’re going to have to smooth this over with Marcel, don’t you?” she ground out, irritated. “Everyone will think—”

“What do I care what everyone thinks?” he bit out impatiently, his decidedly unconcerned attitude grating on Caroline’s already frazzled nerves. She felt close to bursting at that point, everything feeling much too raw and close to the surface of her skin. A rush of heat passed through her, the combination of all her frustration and anger and lust creating a veritable Molotov cocktail of emotions.

She tried to compartmentalize them all to better deal with the situation at hand, but they remained stubbornly tangled; an impossibly knotted snarl of equally intense feelings that when pulled, only became worse.

Klaus was endlessly fascinated with the war of emotions he could see play out on her face, and he relished the tricky challenge of provoking the one he wanted into action.

“You’ve made a mess out of nothing, and as usual, _I’m_ the one who’ll eventually have to justify the situation to everyone somehow.”

He leaned in to brush his lips along the line of her jaw, but she turned her head away stubbornly—frown firmly in place.

“Don’t worry so much, love. I’ll get someone else to take care of it, if that’s what’s troubling you.” He tried to lean in once more, but she pushed him back, the sensation of her palms against his chest delightfully forceful. His cock ached with increasing interest, but he opted to keep his mouth shut about it since he wagered it was the opposite effect she’d been going for.

“Oh, really?” she asked dryly, the doubt evident in her tone. “Like who, exactly?” Resigning himself to the fact that they were going to actually discuss this, he let out an exaggerated sigh.

“I don’t know, any number of people. How about that pretty little friend of yours, hmm? The redhead—what was her name?”

Caroline glared at him, her eyes narrow slits of barely restrained hostility.

“Katia? _As if_. She doesn’t like you.” Klaus gave her a look of mock surprise.

“ _Really?_ I had no idea. Am I to understand then, that ‘mudak’ _isn’t_ a Russian endearment?”

“Why do you think we get along so well?” she bit back at him, poorly hiding the smug smile that peeked out from the corner of her lips. Klaus could feel his blood racing in the face of her insolent attitude, excited by her show of fearless provocation. He wanted to taste all that fiery defiance—roll it around his tongue and fully appreciate the sharp bite.

Moving in a mere centimeter from her face, he reached out to rub a loose tendril of her hair between his fingers.

“I think you forget just how persuasive I can be when I set my mind to it, sweetheart.” To demonstrate his point, he slowly pushed her arms away and was met with no resistance when he pressed his hips against hers.

Caroline inhaled sharply at the startlingly intense heat of him through the layers of their clothing, and she lifted her hips automatically in response. He let her strain against him as he dropped his hand to her lower back, caressing the sensitive area until she was arching into him slightly.

“See?” he whispered hotly into the base of her neck. “Simple enough. Your little Katia won’t know what hi—”

Realizing what he was insinuating— _that he could easily seduce anyone into doing his bidding_ — she suddenly railed at him in a flurry of ferocious limbs. She didn’t even fully comprehend the intensity of the dark possessiveness that engulfed her until she felt her lips curl back from her exposed fangs. The blood pulsed thickly around her eyes, and all she could see was red.

She rushed to the other side of the room over to the table and picked up one of his crystal tumblers, throwing it directly at his head. He barely caught it in time before it smashed against his face, and before she could throw another one, he was in front of her, grabbing her wrist midair. His eyes had a diabolical glow to them, taking an obscene amount of pleasure in her violent reaction.

“Now, now, love. No need for that. It’s just business.” This only served to incense her further, and she reached around to swipe another glass with her other arm. He caught it once again before she could crush it into the side of his cheek, and gave both her wrists a slight shake to divest her of her would-be weapons. The shattering of glass seemed to break whatever haze she’d been in, and she eyed him resentfully.

Keeping a firm grasp on her, he brought her arms gently down, holding them behind her back. The movement caused her to unwillingly arch into him, and he smiled wickedly.

“Mmm,” he hummed against her lips. “I like it when you’re jealous.” She tried to control her erratic breathing as she forced herself to shift back, eventually feeling her fangs retract and her vision clear.

“I’m _not_ jealous,” she snapped at him. “You’re just being a massive jackass.” She wriggled in the cage of his arms until she succeeded in twisting to face away from him, huffing in annoyance when he didn’t budge an inch. He chuckled at the obvious lie, looking forward to unraveling the truth from her.

“So you wouldn’t mind if I just popped over into town and plied my persuasive talents on anyone?” he goaded, grinning at the stiffness of her posture.

“Fine. Whatever. I don’t care,” she replied with an eerily detached calmness, deciding to call his bluff. _He wouldn’t fucking dare._

“You don’t _care_?” he scoffed disbelievingly.

He pressed himself flush against her back then, trapping her between his hard chest and the table. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall and tried desperately to calm herself down from shifting again. The last thing she wanted was to lose control and give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much his words—and touch—had affected her.

Brushing her hair to one side, Klaus leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“And if I touched them like this?” he asked provokingly, his hand reaching under her skirt to run along the length of her inner thigh and leaving a trail of unbearable heat in its wake. Despite her furious attempts to appear unaffected by his seductive assault, she couldn’t help the swell of jealousy at the thought of his hands on another like this. Caroline felt the familiar prick in her gums that signaled her fangs were ready to protract, and she snarled angrily at him.

“ _I don’t care_.”

Klaus could tell she was lying, the tension throughout her body a result of trying to resist him as well as her own urges. He searched for a way to push her over the edge she was so carefully avoiding, and let his hand wander over her navel, his fingers absently dipping slightly past the waistband of her panties. There was no hiding her reaction when her hips jerked unconsciously towards him, and he grinned ruthlessly as he took advantage of the opening she’d dropped so neatly into his lap.

“Even if I did _this_?” he demanded, right before reaching down further and cupping her wet heat tightly against his palm.

Klaus was gratified when Caroline let out a loud gasp at the sudden contact, but not when she so obviously tried to fight the urge to shiver at his touch. He could hear her frantic panting, though, and realized she was still clinging to that admirable restraint of hers. He’d seen her lose control once tonight, and he’d make sure he would again. However long it took.

“Why are you holding back?” he asked in a softer tone, and Caroline shifted restlessly from the effort of hiding the extent of her reaction to him. “You don’t have to hide from me,” he continued as if reading her mind. “There’s no one here but us, sweetheart— nothing to prove with this show of righteousness.”

She let out a derisive scoff.

“It’s _not_ a show.”

“Isn’t it?” he shot back, and she was about to throw out another retort when he suddenly rubbed her harder, causing her angry reply to transform into a sharp outcry. Her hands instinctively braced themselves on the table for purchase, and she could feel the wood give way under her fingers as they made the start of what she was sure would be unsightly scratch marks.

“ _You want me_ ,” he whispered savagely into her ear. “It doesn’t matter if I kill a thousand people tomorrow or none ever again. Your perceived sense of morality means nothing when it comes to us.” Caroline wanted so badly to deny it, to actually _mean_ it, but the lie just wouldn’t form on her lips. As much as she abhorred it, she knew it was true. She’d let him in a long time ago— into her life and under her skin, down into the deepest parts of her. The days when she could merely walk away from all of this, from _him_ , were long past.

And he knew it. _The smug bastard_.

Taking her continued silence as a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the truth of what he said, he sought to convince her further. Caroline tried valiantly to keep her mouth shut when he slipped one long finger into her, but the moan that built up from the base of her throat was too loud to be hidden. The knowledge that he could elicit such an uncontrollable response had Klaus struggling to hold onto the shreds of his own sanity. He could feel his impatience getting the better of him, and disregarding his earlier promise to take as much time as she needed to lose that precious control of hers, he pressed deeper and stroked her more insistently.

He paused when she reached down and grabbed his wrist, her nails digging unforgivingly into his skin.

“ _Klaus…_ ” she said warningly, her tone contrasting starkly with the way she was pulling his hand tighter against her. Tiring of this game she was playing, he added another finger in an attempt to cut to the chase. The sound of wood splintering underneath her palm confirmed all he needed to know.

“Enough of this,” he growled impatiently. “We both know you don’t care about what I did tonight. You don’t care that he’s dead, or that everyone knows about it. In fact, from what I can see, all it does is excite you to know that I would do this all for you.” Caroline bit the inside of her cheek, hating that every protest that sprung to her mind was just as half-hearted as her will to voice them. He was right—she really couldn’t have cared less about that sleazy, two-bit, _Twilight_ rip-off excuse of a vampire. The world was probably better off without him, and yet she still couldn’t shake the slight irritation she felt over the whole thing. “If you’re angry about anything,” he continued, “it’s only at the fact that I didn’t heed your demand earlier and not go in the first place.”

Her patience wore out completely at his infuriating streak of correct assumptions just as her lust magnified tenfold when he dragged his mouth up the length of her exposed neck, breathing deeply before lowering his voice in her ear. “I’ll let you in on a little secret though, so as to disabuse you of any future misconceptions.” He licked a wet trail over the shell of her ear, and she felt her eyes roll back at the combined ministrations of his fingers and tongue. “I don’t follow commands. I _make_ them.”

Caroline could practically hear her teeth gnashing at that statement, whatever little pride she had left to claim at that point thoroughly piqued. It took a considerable and conscious effort, but after a few moments she eventually forced the urge to shift to the back of her mind.

“If my morality doesn’t apply to us, then neither does your ‘perceived’ superiority,” she said mockingly, throwing his use of words from earlier back at him. His mouth and hands suddenly stilled on her as she went on. “ _You can’t control me_.”

He spun her around roughly, and Caroline felt her throat tighten at the look on his face. It wasn’t until just then that she fully appreciated how much easier it had been to say all of those things when she wasn’t looking into his eyes. Now that the full weight of his gaze was on her, she was surprised she could even manage to breathe.

“I can do whatever I want, love,” he said in a dangerously soft voice, “or haven’t you been listening?” She made a half-hearted attempt to shrug out of his grip, but the move only made him pull her closer. “You’re mine,” he rasped against her lips. “And you’ll let me do anything I please, because _I own you_.”

Caroline finally felt something snap in her, and this time she didn’t resist when her fangs broke through, or the veins hardened around her now blackened eyes.

An echoing _crack!_ filled the room when she ripped her arm out of his hold and slapped him hard across the face.

Klaus staggered back from the unexpected force of her blow, and she looked on unflinchingly even as her breathing started to race. It wasn’t out of any sense of regret or fear, but from the turmoil that had raged in the pit of her gut for resenting how he’d held the truth of her desire for him over her head. Whether she was mad at him for doing so, or herself for letting it be true, the whole situation left her standing there seething.

The rush of blood that flooded throughout her body made everything painfully magnified. Her fangs ached to sink into his skin and cut the muscle underneath, while her fingers itched to reach out and grab him.

Whether it was to slap him again or kiss him was still up in the air.

Klaus brought the back of his hand up to the corner of his lower lip, and Caroline noticed the thin trail of blood that was leading away from an already healed cut. He wiped it away slowly as he finally looked back up at her, and she felt the strength of her thirst scorch her throat. A knowing grin spread across his face.

“Now _that’s_ more like it.”

Caroline’s gaze snapped up to meet his, and their eyes locked for a heated moment before all hell broke loose.

There was a great crashing noise as Klaus charged at her, knocking over several chairs and side tables as he slammed her back into the wall. Her head jerked from the sudden impact, but she barely had a second to catch her breath before he was kissing her. His hands were rough and insistent on her as he tried to pin her wrists above her head, but she eventually broke out of his grasp and reached for the collar of his jacket. His lips made up for the loss with their punishing force, and she didn’t even think to protest when she could taste his blood where her fangs had pressed too close.

Klaus suddenly pulled back in surprise when she yanked both sides of his jacket in opposite directions, ripping the thick fabric in two and letting it fall limply to the floor. He looked down at the ruined garment and back up at her with narrowed eyes.

“That was low, Caroline,” he chided, and she only grinned in satisfaction. “Such a waste. _Burberry…_ ” he mumbled regretfully. She shrugged indifferently.

“ _Oops._ ”

Pressing his hips harder against her, he took her face between his hands, unconsciously wetting his lips with his tongue.

“You’re gonna pay for that, sweetheart.”

“So send me a bill,” she bit back sarcastically. The corner of his mouth lifted into a wry smile, and he tilted her head until the entire length of her neck was exposed. He traced the path of her artery with one finger, liking the way she shivered when he did.

“Why bother when I can just cash in now?”

She side eyed him with barely concealed disapproval.

“That’s not how this is gonna go tonight,” she informed him with a serious look, and he just laughed.

“Oh, really?” he asked provokingly. “And who’s to say differently?” He knew of course what her answer would be, but the anticipation of seeing if she would act on it sent a wave of shocking heat through him. She took the bait just as he predicted, and yet he still stumbled a bit when she pushed him off of her with a hard shove.

“ _Me,_ ” she said fiercely, and proceeded to peel off her cardigan, tossing it aside carelessly as she stormed towards him.

She kissed him hard as she unbuttoned his shirt impatiently, and he wondered in amusement at when this would start to feel like he wasn’t getting his way. Because as of right now, he wasn’t sure she quite understood the concept. Flinging his shirt over her head, she guided him backwards until he felt one of the columns of the archway hit his shoulder. Klaus swallowed a groan when Caroline reached for his belt, tugging at it eagerly until it came undone under her expert fingers. She let out a hot breath against his jaw and dragged the blunt edge of her teeth along the outline, the sharp points of her fangs a strangely exciting threat.

She pressed a trail of kisses down his chest as she slid his pants down torturously slow, and he hardened uncontrollably when he felt her bare shoulder graze the side of his leg. He ignored it when she chuckled knowingly upon noticing, and focused rather on the feel of her soft hair brushing his knee as she worked to undress him completely.

Klaus was just about to let his eyes drift closed as she finished her task, when all of a sudden there was a swift blur of motion and he felt something bind his wrists.

His entire body tensed aggressively when he glanced down behind him and saw that she’d tied his hands around the column at his back with his own belt. He narrowed his eyes at her smug face, his voice barely above a growl.

“ _Caroline_ …” he began warningly, “Do you honestly believe that this can hold me? That I can’t get out of this?” She merely smiled at him and pulled harder on the belt until he winced at the sharp bite of leather into his wrists. Her free hand traced light, gentle patterns on his chest.

“I think the more appropriate question is, _will_ you?”

His jaw clenched at her challenge, but she saw the unmistakable desire in his eyes. He gave no indication that he would say it out loud, but the fact that he hadn’t already broken out of the hold she had him in was telling enough. She smirked victoriously as she nuzzled his cheek.

“That’s right,” she whispered softly, heady with the rush of power that came from his silent surrender. “You’re mine, too,” she said, letting her nails glide down his chest. “And you’ll let me do anything I want…”

Her fingers drifted dangerously low past his abdomen and he groaned loudly when she finally gripped him tightly in her hand.

“…because _I own you_.”

Whatever part of Klaus that balked at the assertive tone she took while using his own words against him was quickly drowned out with the blinding pleasure of her touch. There was no possibility of hiding his reaction in his current state, so he let himself give in even further to her, relinquishing any thought of regaining control in favor of the feel of her fingers wrapped around his length.

Caroline took in every detail of his response to her, committing all the little shivers and low moans that spilled out of him to her memory. She circled the tip with her thumb and he threw his head back roughly against the column, his eyes shut tightly as if in pain.

 _Good_ , she thought to herself, pleased that he could be equally affected by her.

As soon as the self-satisfied thoughts entered her mind though, she started to become increasingly aware of how the sight of him was turning _her_ on beyond belief. The muscles in his chest and shoulders flexed and shifted as she pumped him faster, her own mouth suddenly dry when she noticed the beads of sweat that were forming at his temple.

As if from their own volition, her hips started to rock against his side, desperate to alleviate the throbbing ache between her legs. The movement caught Klaus’ attention, and he looked down at her with hungry eyes that took in everything. She held his gaze as she did it harder, biting down on her lip until she could feel her teeth break the delicate skin. He immediately lunged forward with the crushing desire to taste the trickle of blood that appeared, but she was quicker, jerking away while simultaneously pulling on his restraints.

“Caroline,” he began, his voice hoarse and eyes wild, “Let me go. _Now_.” Ignoring the demand, she licked away the stray drop herself, enjoying his furious expression at being denied.

“Why should I?” she asked in a husky whisper, knowing at least a hundred reasons off the top of her head, but wanting to hear it from him. Klaus was practically vibrating with all the pent up urges he’d been restraining at this point, and Caroline swallowed thickly in anticipation.

“Because I’m going to make you come until you’re screaming my name,” he replied slowly, and she felt the intent of his promise slide down her spine, touching every nerve until her entire body was humming with electricity. “You’ll be _begging_ for me to release you from the torment, and I won’t.” Caroline inched forward at the irresistible picture he painted, gradually closing the space she had put between them.

“And how exactly do you think you’re gonna accomplish that?”

His eyes caught the glow of the fire then, and for a moment it felt as if Caroline was looking straight into hellfire itself.

“Why don’t you come closer and find out,” he offered temptingly, and she felt her grip begin to loosen on the belt. Before the buckle could even clatter loudly against the floor, his hands were on her, pulling her up against his chest and walking her backwards until her hip hit the edge of the dining table.

Caroline was grateful she didn’t technically need to breathe, the crushing force of Klaus’ kiss leaving no possibility of it. She tried to maintain some semblance of control over the situation, but he thwarted her at every turn, overwhelming her efforts with his strength as if brushing aside a butterfly.

Her breath was ripped from her in a shocked gasp when he spun her around roughly, bending her over the table unceremoniously. Caroline railed at the feeling of being trapped, her entire torso pushed tightly against the cool wooden surface by his chest at her back. And yet, there was also another part of her— an increasingly dominant part— that relished the rough treatment. She wanted him to end this now, before he had a chance to make good on his promise to have her begging for him.

By either his perceptiveness of her wishes, or the demands of his own need, he quickly moved from nipping at her ear to flipping the skirt of her dress up to her hips, wasting no time in shredding the lacy material of her underwear before sliding deep into her.

Caroline let out a low moan when she finally felt him within her, appreciative of the support of the table she had only just labeled constricting a moment ago. Feeling as if all the bones in her body had somehow turned to liquid, she propped herself up onto her palms with deliberate effort. Klaus made a guttural sound in her ear at the slight shift, and she shook visibly when he trailed his lips down her neck and shoulder to bite the back of her upper arm.

It wasn’t a gentle bite, but neither was it one of his playful nips he was fond of giving her on occasion. It was something of a hard, gnawing kiss, and Caroline had the inexplicable desire for him to bare his fangs and bite deeper, until he broke the skin and drank from her.                                                                             

The thought shocked her, and she let out a series of panting breaths at the unexpected urge to explore blood sharing with him. The idea only grew with every deliciously brutal thrust of his hips, and her mind’s eye burned with images of him sinking into her in more ways than one.

Gathering all her hair to one side, Klaus grabbed a fistful of the blonde locks and wound the length of it around his wrist, pulling firmly until she began emitting pleased little growls that made his pulse race.

Despite the fact that he had her within his grip in every possible way, it wasn’t long before he felt all sense of control slipping from his grasp when she started pushing back into him, taking over the rhythm between them.

Where he had previously pulled her hair as a show of his intimate knowledge of her pleasure, he now held on purely to keep up with her demanding pace, her back arching and dipping with every backward thrust. Breathing erratically into her shoulder, he suddenly pinned her hips against the table forcefully, stopping any and all movement. Confused, she craned her neck to look back at him. Before she could even utter one word of complaint, his mouth was suddenly on hers in an unbearably heated kiss. His tongue stroked the roof of her mouth, teasing and coaxing the helpless moans from her that soon filled the room.

“Tell me I was right before,” he whispered in a rush against her lips. “Say it, and I’ll end all this now.”

Caroline’s lips parted on a sigh, already halfway to obliging him when she was struck by the frantic pace of his heartbeat against her back— the hint of desperation in the way his fingers dug into her hips. She grinned inwardly, realizing that his seemingly generous offer was nothing more than a cover for his own impending climax.

 _Got you_ , she thought triumphantly, unable to stop the slight upturn of the corner of her mouth.

“Well?” he pressed insistently. “What’ll it be, sweetheart?”

She let the question hang in the air a moment longer than he would have liked before finally answering.

“I think you’d better put your back into it, in that case.”

Caroline took an inordinate amount of pleasure in the stunned look that passed over his face at her refusal, thinking that she should make a habit of doing it more often just to see his priceless expression again.

Abruptly taken out of her musings by a swift movement, she suddenly found herself pinned against the wall with a hard push. Klaus crowded her from behind, gripping her waist in an inexorable hold.

“From your lips to my ears,” he said sarcastically, the ragged quality of his voice somewhat spoiling the overall mocking tone. She had every intention of calling out his shameless god complex, but the quip died in her throat when Klaus gripped the back of her right knee and lifted her leg up onto a nearby chair before plunging back into her.

The intensity of this new angle drove everything clear out of Caroline’s mind, leaving no room for any thought as to who was up in this back-and-forth of theirs. She couldn’t be bothered to keep track when the chandelier above the dining table rattled precariously with every pounding thrust of their bodies against the wall. She let her head fall back onto his shoulder and he turned his face slightly to breathe her in past the tangled mess of hair between them.

“ _Fuck._ You’re so close, love,” he said encouragingly into her neck. “I can feel it. Come on, let go.”

“ _Make me_ ,” she challenged.

Her heart stuttered for a moment in the wake of his silence, and she wondered what was going through his mind when all of a sudden her balance shifted; the space around her abruptly displaced and unsteady.

She felt a hard wooden surface beneath her, and she realized he’d sat her down at the head of the long dining table. He was pulling up a chair in front of her with a strangely determined expression, and her brows furrowed.

“What are you d—”

He gripped her hips and bent forward.

Caroline felt her entire body seize up as an inelegant gasp was ripped from her lungs, the unexpected feel of Klaus’ mouth on her destroying any control she might’ve had over her reflexes. She struggled to prop herself up, cursing him freely.

“Oh, you dirty cheat! You _fucking_ bast—” He flicked his tongue over the _exact right_ spot, effectively cutting off her diatribe and smiled when she moaned helplessly instead.

He leaned into her more fully; sliding her back enough to rest his elbows on the surface of the table for better stability. Caroline’s stomach twisted in dark anticipation, everything about his body language indicating she’d better _hold on_.

He continued to suck and lick her, using his entire mouth to eat at her in the way he knew drove her crazy. Reaching down to grip his head, her fingers curling punishingly into his hair, she moaned his name repeatedly.

“ _Klaus_ ,” she groaned fitfully, straining against the arm he had over her navel to hold her down. “Klaus, _please_ …” He added a finger to his ministrations and she cried out desperately, making him pause. He wanted to tease out this exquisite torture for as long as he could now that she was at his mercy.

Taking a few steadying breaths, he ran his nose along the length of her inner thigh. He could hear the pulsing rush of her blood just underneath all that soft skin, and he laved at the spot, desperate to feel every quiver of sensation that passed through her.

“I want to taste you,” he confessed quietly, trailing his lips along a very telling path that piqued Caroline’s attention. “I want to know what you taste like in the heat of your release.” Biting down gently with the bluntness of his human teeth over where she knew her femoral artery pulsed thickly, Caroline imagined it was with a far more monstrous lust that fuelled this particular request of his.

She glanced down at him between her legs, and she felt her center throb furiously with the desire for him to do what he wanted. They’d never done this before, and she trembled with both nerves and uncontrollable curiosity.

It wasn’t as if blood sharing was a revolutionary notion for creatures like them, and yet Caroline couldn’t help but feel like this was a turning point; the delving into this profound and dangerous knowledge of each other. It had been difficult over the years to shake the memories of past experiences that had made her so cagey of exploring this particular intimacy, but right now her overwhelming need finally won out over her lingering trepidation.

“ _Do it_ ,” she whispered past her dry lips, and his gaze snapped up to meet hers with renewed alertness.

“Caroline…” he whispered, a surprising note of uncertainty in his voice.

She jerked her hips upwards and pushed her knee demandingly against the side of his head.

“ _I want you to,_ ” she reiterated, the surge of excitement racing through her veins making her even more positive. He must have seen something in her expression that assuaged his hesitance, because he focused his attention back to the area of her upper thigh with marked intent.

To her eternal frustration, he didn’t immediately proceed, opting instead to kiss the spot gently as he slipped two fingers into her. She shuddered at the sensation, craving more as the familiar pull started to build.

He read the signs of her body as he increased the speed of his fingers in time with her breathy moans and erratic panting, wholly engrossed with every minutiae of her response. He felt the telltale fluttering of her inner muscles around his fingers, and his fangs descended in anticipation of the exact moment she fell apart.

It came in a blinding wave of white-hot bliss when he rubbed her clit with his thumb, causing the sudden jerk of her body along with the ensuing tension as she let the pleasure crash through her. Before she could settle too much into the sensation, Klaus bent down quickly to wrap his other arm tightly around her hip, sinking his fangs into her leg.

A violent shudder wracked through Caroline at the puncture of his significantly more vicious hybrid fangs, but she was surprised to find it wasn’t out of fear or pain, but a piercing, bone-deep _ecstasy_ ; something so far beyond anything she’d ever felt in her entire life that she wanted to scream for every moment she’d spent _not_ in this state with him.

So she did.

She screamed his name, for him to never stop, a slur of uncouth profanity that only made him bite deeper, _harder_.

Even as she felt the insidious underlying heat of the lethal venom creeping through her veins, the knowledge that it didn’t _matter_ , that she had nothing to _fear_ allowed her to surrender completely to the earth-shattering climax that was making its way through every inch of her body.

Klaus heard her as if from a great distance, the sound of her voice barely audible over the deafening roar of his own racing pulse in his ears as her hot blood spilled over his tongue. The warm liquid filled his mouth, and he drank greedily, all his heightened senses savoring the intoxicating taste of her. He could pick out the flood of chemicals that undercut the coppery tang—amplified levels of adrenaline and oxytocin that would make any addict weep.

Klaus could feel Caroline go limp with relief after a while, the fingers in his hair releasing their death grip as all the muscles that clenched around him loosened and relaxed. Although he was nowhere near being satisfied with this small taste, the fact that it would be the first of many made him reluctantly pull back, licking away any stray drops he’d missed.

Caroline was breathing hard when he finally looked up at her, sprawled on top of the table like the most delectable feast he’d ever partaken in. The lingering scent of sweat and blood and sex burned through his nostrils, making him painfully aware that he was still achingly hard and ready to practically burst out of his own skin. She sat up slowly, her hooded gaze and satisfied smile sending a fresh jolt of awareness through his very core.

Klaus lifted his wrist up to her in offering, but to his surprise she swatted it away with blithe indifference. He gave her a questioning look, but she ignored it, slipping her arm around his neck as she stepped down from the table and lowered herself down to straddle his lap.

The click of her heels on the floor and the brush of her dress against his thighs reminded him that she was still practically fully clothed, only adding to the charged atmosphere as he waited impatiently for what she would do.

She slowly reached out and traced the outline of his mouth with her thumb, sliding the pad of it over the front of one of his fangs. His hot breath skimmed over her palm and she hummed deep in the back of her throat.

“What was it like?” she asked softly against the corner of his mouth, her forehead coming to rest against his. Her tongue darted out to wet his upper lip and he understood what she meant.

“ _Incredible_ ,” he whispered fiercely, already missing the taste of her. “Beyond anything I could possibly compare it to.” Her eyes flickered to his with interest.

“Oh, really? Well, then—”

She reached down between their bodies to grab him, and when he looked back up, her lips had curled back to reveal the sharp little fangs, her eyes dark and surrounded by protruding veins; the very picture of unholy bloodlust.

“ _—My turn._ ”

Sliding down onto him without any more warning, she rocked her hips against him in one hard thrust, taking him in deep until he was gasping for air. Caroline crushed her lips to his, swallowing all his exclamations and unsteady breaths. She pressed herself flush against him, leaving no space between them as she continued to ride him in a series of rolling motions that brought him to the edge faster than even she would’ve imagined.

His fingers dug into her side to an almost painful degree, and when he finally began to tense up beneath her she leaned down to the base of his neck and sank her fangs directly into his jugular. He jerked at the feel of her bite, only causing Caroline to clutch him tighter, pulling his head to the side with the inexorable grasp she had on his short curls.

The feeling of Klaus coming undone as she drank from him went straight to her head, reminding her of what downing a shot of tequila was like as a human. The rich flavor of his blood burned her throat, but she couldn’t stop—didn’t _want to_. Aside from the fact that she needed it to counteract the deadly venom in her bloodstream, the sheer pleasure of tasting him in this moment was all she could think about. It might have been the cure that suddenly imbued her with a surprising burst of vigor, but it was her pure, insatiable lust for only him that made her move against him with a desperate need for more friction between them.   

He was right. It _was_ indescribable.

The tension in his body eventually eased somewhat as his orgasm passed, and Caroline gradually slowed down, disengaging her fangs from his neck. She kept her lips pressed to the spot, though, unwilling to part as she licked up every trace of blood until the wound eventually healed over.

It felt like hours before either of them could speak, both too wrapped up in the afterglow of such staggering proportions.

Klaus took a steadying breath, pressing his head in the center of her chest.

“I’ll talk to Marcel,” he said after a while, no trace of defeat or misgiving in his tone. “I’ll explain what happened and apologize.”

It was what she’d wanted, all she’d expected from him in the first place, but Caroline suddenly couldn’t shake the memory of what an absolute _dick_ that asshole from the bar had been. Friend of Marcel’s or not, she wouldn’t tolerate it. _They_ wouldn’t tolerate it.

“ _Screw Marcel_ ,” she growled. “If he’s allowed to have date-rapey friends, then I’m allowed to shove broken bottles into their livers while you merely follow up on the threats I dole out.” He leaned back in the chair to meet her gaze with a raised eyebrow.

“Is that so?” She nodded with a teasing smile, and he wondered for not the first (or last) time how far the extent of her power over him went, and if he would ever stop delighting in it. “How did I do, then?” he asked with a cheeky grin. “Marks out of ten, if you’d be so kind. I wouldn’t want my performance to slip here and there out of lack of feedback.”

Her responding smile was surely one that Klaus would never forget, the combination of every good and dark thing he loved about her coalescing into that one wicked tilt of her lips.

“Well, as far as accuracy, I’d probably have to go with a five…” He made a discontent little grunt at that, but she continued as if not hearing him. “…but taking into consideration you’re an artist and all that, I’ll probably give you a nine overall for your creative license.”

He pulled her closer, kissing slowly up her neck until he made it to the spot underneath her jaw he knew she liked.

“What would I have to do for that elusive tenth point, then?”

She laughed, and Klaus could practically feel the vibrations of it echo within his chest.

“Well now, _that_ is going to take a lot of back-breaking work,” she answered, running a single finger down his spine. “I’m not quite sure you could handle it.”

He stood up abruptly, lifting her with one arm as her legs wrapped around him instinctively. She let out a little shriek of surprise, and he smirked.

“Trust me, love—I have more stamina than you give me credit for.”

He raced upstairs to their bedroom, intent on proving it.

She eventually gave him that last point.

Eight hours later.


End file.
